【Dear Utol: Catfish Episode 46】

I see what you did there.

If you're going to have Dear Utol: Catfish Episode 46a robot hanging around the house all day watching your every move, you might as well find a way to make it less weird and more useful.

Kuri Vision just might do that.

Part of the still-under-development Kuri home robot from Mayfield Robotics, Kuri Vision allows the the 20-inch tall, autonomous, obstacle-detecting, rolling robot automatically capture life's unexpected moments in 5-second video increments. An array of microphones around Kuri's collar capture sound and send the best of those to your phone, where you can decide to like them, share them, or delete them.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Mayfield Robotics staff was testing Kuri in their homes when, according to CEO Mike Beebe, they noticed that some of the best images the robot had captured were totally unexpected. Earlier this month, Beebe showed me a photo of a child trying to poke one of Kuri's adorable blinking eyes out, from the point of view of Kuri's eye, one of which is also a camera.

Kuri owners will be able to turn Kuri Vision off (and off and on throughout the day) and also to tell the robot which room or rooms should not be captured. More impressively, Kuri will learn from the choices you make. Kuri's new HD, full-color camera can identify everyone in the home and knows the difference between a person and a dog. If you always like video clips of your toddler and the dog, Kuri will capture more of those. If you always discard videos of yourself, Kuri will stop gathering those.

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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Kuri could spend the day capturing video, but, using its artificial intelligence, it will only share the best eight. All videos are initially stored on the robot, and the best are uploaded to the cloud where you access them through the Kuri app (iOS or Android).

There have been some other notable feature and hardware updates since I last saw Kuri at SXSW in Austin.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

In preparation for mass production and a December launch, Mayfield Robotics has started consolidating components. Instead of off-the-shelf daughter boards, the company started building its own boards and simplifying the construction, which should help when Kuri hits the assembly line. They've also rebuilt the frame, helping Kuri slim down to 12.5 lbs. Stripped of its plastic skin, Kuri now looks more like a consumer electronics product ready for factory production.

One of the more notable hardware changes happened in Kuri's base. To demonstrate, Beebe set up a 1-inch thick wooden door saddle on the floor and, using the app, navigated Kuri over it. The robot almost toppled over. Then he conducted the test drive with an updated Kuri, which smoothly navigated the obstacle. Beebe flipped over a pair of bases to show me the change. The old wheels were round and thin. Kuri's new wheels are designed a bit more like tank treads — they start large in the front and taper toward the back. This, along with a reengineering of the cushion the wheels have when they roll over objects, results in a much more stable Kuri.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

In addition, Kuri can now respond to voice commands that begin with, yes, you guessed it, "Hey Kuri." You can tell the robot to go to a particular room or "Go home," and it will find its charging base.

Kuri is still rated for 2 hours of continuous activity and a 1-hour charge time. Beebe expects Kuri to automatically return to base for charge when it isn't being used so Kuri's owner never really notices it being away.

Mayfield Robotics has already started seeding beta Kuris with some lucky users, but the rest of the world will have to wait until the end of this year, when Kuri is expected to go on sale for $799.

The looming question is whether Kuri Vision can help turn Kuri into an indispensable life-logger — or will consumers find it uncomfortable and turn it off? Kuri's short stature means that, for most adults, Kuri's point of view will be that of a small child or pet, and it will have a decent view of people seated on chairs and couches. Will the discovery of an unexpected moment like "mom dancing in the kitchen" or "Billy tugging Fido's tail" be embraced or rejected? Kuri and Kuri Vision could end up being a crucial turning point for robot kind.

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Topics Artificial Intelligence Innovations